Paul A. Spiers, PhD
15th John K. Friesen Conference –
“Quality of Life at the End of Life: Decisions and Choices”
Paul A. Spiers, PhD
Forensic Neuropsychologist; Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine; Visiting Scientist, Clinical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Co-Chair, Legislative and Legal Advocacy Committee, Compassion & Choices, and Past-President, Board of Directors, End-of-Life Choices (was Hemlock Society)
Dr. Spiers is a neuropsychologist who served as President of the Board of Directors for End-of-Life Choices [ELC] and Caring Friends prior to their merger with Compassion in Dying. Educated at McGill and Clark Universities, as well as the University of Paris, Dr. Spiers conducts research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, teaches at the Boston University School of Medicine and has a private practice examining clients and testifying as an expert witness in both civil and criminal cases. In the eighties, he was a staff, clinical neuropsychologist at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital in the Behavioral Neurology Unit, researching many patient populations including those elderly who he evaluated for Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. He has researched the neuropsychological changes accompanying normal aging, and this work was presented at a meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society.
Paul had a fall from horseback in 1994 and suffered severe traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. He is now a T6-7 paraplegic and a wheelchair user. The issue of patients’ rights had always been important to him as a clinician and a professional, but those rights and the choices provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became all the more important to him. When he attended a then Hemlock Society Board meeting as an observer, Paul was impressed with the work being done and was pleased to serve when invited to join the board.
Dr. Spiers has been intimately involved with the evolution and mainstreaming of the Hemlock Society, including the recent name change to End-of-Life Choices. He helped to oversee organizational restructuring during his term on the board and has been a strong advocate that organizations in the Death with Dignity movement must speak with one voice if they are to be effective in changing the law and improving end-of-life care. Paul now serves as co-chair of the C&C board’s Advocacy Committee.
Paul has often served as a spokesperson for End-of-Life Choices and the movement, having appeared in various television programs, as well as giving several radio and newspaper interviews. He published editorials on the right to a self-hastened death for the terminally ill in the Albany Post and in New Mobility Magazine. He has appeared on the CBC National News where he met with attorneys in Vancouver, British Columbia, and presented a donation from Choices to the Evelyn Martens’ legal defense team